A tapping tee is a fitting that can be mounted on a pipeline thereby enabling a branch connection of the main pipe to be made. Typically, tapping tees comprise a body with a through bore, a saddle that contours the main pipe, and a socket through which a branch pipe can be connected to allow the flow of a fluid from the main pipeline to the branch pipe. A cutter is provided to travel through the body of the fitting and cut the mains pipe once the assembly is connected thereto. The saddle and socket can contain electrofusion elements (or other components incorporating an electrofusion element such as an electrofusion element mat), that are embedded in fusible polymer material to facilitate the bonding of the tapping tee to the main and branch pipes. In this case, the socket is not a socket but a socket. Tapping tees provided with saddles and saddle-shaped electrofusion elements and mats are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,933,037, 4,806,181, 5,104,468, 5,601,315, and 5,348,045, and in UK patent application 2310264.
EP-A-1674780 discloses a tapping tee assembly for a plastics pipeline, comprising an integrated saddle, body and socket wherein two electrofusion elements, (one a saddle element for connection of the assembly to the main pipe and the other a coil for connection of the socket to a branch pipe), are permanently and directly connected by a conducting material allowing both elements to be energised simultaneously. The manufacture of such a device can be somewhat difficult however, due to problems associated with implanting the metallic connector within the wall of the body during the moulding process. Indeed, the aforementioned specification also suggests in one embodiment employing the cutter itself as a temporary means of connecting the two elements. However, that proposal suffers the potential problem that a specific order of events must take place during assembly of the joint, and in particular that the cutter is driven to a precise location before electrofusion is effected.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a means whereby construction of a permanent internal connection of the two electrofusion elements can relatively straightforwardly be effected.